In preparation for swapping the fields for the cows and the goats, today we did a full clean of the goat stalls in the barn. When the goats go into the 4-acre we won’t be giving them access to the field shelter as that is set up for the geese. The barn therefore will be used more than it is now as whilst at the moment they still sleep in it at night, they don’t tend to use it during the day. Once they are in the 4-acre, the barn will therefore be their only cover and if it rains, they will need it. This is only the second time since we set up the goats stalls late last summer that we have had to do a full clean. We are glad it is only a two-to-three times-a-year job as it is jolly hard work. We use the quad and land trailer and so are able to drive the old bedding to the compost heap (we are using the heap in the poultry area) but the loading in and then the emptying out is all done by hand – using pitchforks, shovels, rakes and brooms. We are now major fans of earth floors as opposed to the concrete ones we had in our barn at Lamorna. They keep MUCH drier and we don’t use as much straw. As we did back in Cornwall, we muck out on a daily basis and then top up with clean straw, in the winter this is usually daily, in the summer it can be once a week if that. Inevitably however, we get a build of dirty straw from the wee and any poo we have missed (or that falls below the top layer of straw) and there comes a point when we need to totally empty the stalls, dust with lime to kill off bacteria and then cover again with clean straw. This full clean will pretty much ALWAYS get done after the winter and before kidding/lambing for obvious reasons!
The goats were a little wary of their 'new' surroundings but soon realised there was fresh straw to nibble and everything else was the same!!!